3-Matches - 3-Courses - Less Than 18,000 Yards

[Jim Sherma]

Finished playing three GAP matches and went on the road for all three. The courses averaged below 6,000 yards and I found all three courses enjoyable, challenging and having reasonable architectural interest.


Week 1: Susquehanna Valley Country Club - played white tees 5,994 Yards - The front 9 is the original 9 holes originally done by Flynn in 1919 and the back 9 is from the Gordons in the late 1950's (as per https://www.gapgolfmag-digital.org/gapgolf/2019_winter?pg=30#pg30).


Susquehanna's front 9 is below the clubhouse heading down to US 15. It's very funky with tough greens running faster than the slopes really allowed for. There are examples of fall-away greens (1 and 2) strong side-slope greens (3 and 5 - both par 3's) and heavy back to front in the front half of the 4th. The back 9 is in the woods back behind the clubhouse. Very over-treed and tight. The greens are pretty obviously by the Gordon's and there are some good holes. The one standout hole on the back is the 14th, a down and up par 4 that is nicely draped on the one decent land form back there. The front is definitely worth a play, the back is ok but nothing more than that.


Week 2: Meadia Heights CC - played white tees at 6,024 yards - as per Mike Cirba the architectural lineage is H.W. Brubaker and U. Grant Barr 1923, Chester Ruby 1960, and Ferdinand Garbin 1985 - possible Alec Findlay connection?


I've spoken highly of Meadia Heights on GCA before. Somewhat tight in places but also a lot of nicer old school features to make it interesting. Numerous blind or semi-blind shots, especially on the tee shots. Crazy criss-crossing par 3's with the 4th a solid 190 down-hill to a target that is very tight for the length of the shot. Some nice fall-away greens (5 and 10 good examples of this). There are a few holes that don't really fit with the rest of the course (11, 17 and 18) but all in all a course worth checking out.


Joe Bausch's photo tour of Meadia Heights: http://myphillygolf.com/uploads/bausch/MeadiaHeights/index.html


Week 3: Overlook Golf Course - played white tees 5,816 yards - Abe Dombach 1927 with a decent amount of newer work clearly on the ground


Overlook was a nice surprise. A seemingly very well run public facility that was simply hopping on a beautiful spring day. The course is architecturally dominated by a single ridge running across the property close to the southern edge. 5 greens are perched on top of the ridge (1, 4, 10, 14 and 17) and 5 holes hit downhill off of the ridge (2, 5, 13, 15, 18). There are only 2 par 5's that are both short (427 and 456). The rest of the course did have a fair number of fun shots and while it was no particularly difficult you did have to hit good shots to get around, on a side note not being able to hit a fairway did not help matters for me. The greens have a lot of interest for a public course. in summary, Overlook is not a place to go out of your way to play. While saying that, I felt good having played there and felt like Overlook was really doing something right.


Joe Bausch's photo tour of Overlook: http://myphillygolf.com/uploads/bausch/Overlook/index.html

[Jake Hoeffel]

Jim
I too played three away GAP matches. All courses were new to me.


1. Chester Valley
2. Northampton (Easton)
3. Overbrook


Pretty interesting that your three were all under 6,000 yards. I have a friend who played on one of the Saucon Valley teams and his three opponents were Lulu, Manufacturer's, and Sandy Run (all located about 1/2 mile from another).

[Jim Sherma]

Jake - what were your thoughts on Northampton? I grew up in the area and know the course fairly well.


It was strange having all of the courses that short, and all quite tight and treed-up. Hit a lot of punch recoveries under and around trees given some squirrelly driving.

Jim
I too played three away GAP matches. All courses were new to me.


1. Chester Valley
2. Northampton (Easton)
3. Overbrook


Pretty interesting that your three were all under 6,000 yards. I have a friend who played on one of the Saucon Valley teams and his three opponents were Lulu, Manufacturer's, and Sandy Run (all located about 1/2 mile from another).

[Jake Hoeffel]

Jim-
I liked Northampton. I went into the round with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Our hosts (good guys) informed us that they had recently done a lot of bunker work and there was a good amount of ongoing tree work being done as well.


I liked the greens. They lay on the ground in a way that made them seem natural. That was a big difference from my round the week prior at Chester Valley, which had small potato chip greens that felt very manufactured and unnatural.


Overall, I liked Northampton and would definitely go back.

[Jim Sherma]

Interesting - I've played it 7 or 8 times over the past 40 years and keep hoping for more than I find. It's always in good shape and the club seems pretty flush. The holes around the clubhouse that use the ridge that the house is built on are pretty good. (2, 3, 4, 9, 10 and 18). The rest of the course never did much for me even though the greens are ok for the most part, always felt like you're playing on an old corn field between lines of pine trees. I do like 14 and always found 17 to be a disconcerting drive for some reason. Not much competition in the Eason area as far as private clubs go now that Harker's Hollow is no longer private and a shell of what it once was.

Jim-
I liked Northampton. I went into the round with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Our hosts (good guys) informed us that they had recently done a lot of bunker work and there was a good amount of ongoing tree work being done as well.


I liked the greens. They lay on the ground in a way that made them seem natural. That was a big difference from my round the week prior at Chester Valley, which had small potato chip greens that felt very manufactured and unnatural.


Overall, I liked Northampton and would definitely go back.